Tuesday, January 28, 2014

DIY Lego Valentine Hearts to Exchange

Jake will be six this week and he's obsessed with Lego's. While helping him put sort his pieces the other day, I had a thought that it would be cool to go non-traditional for class Valentines this year. It's funny how I sometimes get these bright ideas without actually realizing a million people have probably had this idea before. Wouldn't it be cool to make little hearts out of Legos for the kids in Jake's kindergarten class?!?! Of course, I tried to make one from scratch and shockingly, I am not the best Lego creator ever! So, I went to my trusty Google, where I realized quite a few people have gone before me in this quest. I found a few ideas and after trying them decided on this pattern from instructables.com.

Jake wanted to help, so we sorted through his red Legos and didn't have enough to make the entire heart red, so a few of our pieces were white. We liked the shape and the combination of colors, so we decided to make them for Jake's class and a couple other friends.

Then my daughter Delaney & I made a quick trip to the mall. Having a Lego store with a "fill your bucket" area was super cool for this project. You pick a large or small container (They probably measure about a 16 oz for a large cup and 8 oz for a small cup, but don't quote me on that! Price is about $7.50 for the small and $14 for the large.). Then fill your cup with bricks of all sizes & colors from bins that cover the back wall of the store. The employees are super helpful and shake your container or rearrange the bricks for you, so you can fit a couple more. The trick is to put in a few large bricks and fill the wholes with little ones. We counted the pieces in our sample and then chose red & white bricks to create that shape. We did end up with different bricks because of what was available in our store, but the final product will be the exact same shape. We are making 22 Lego hearts, after a 50 cent deposit credit for reusing one of our own containers and putting a $5 credit from my Lego VIP card toward the purchase, our total ended up being around 70 cents each. If you don't have a Lego store near you, I did check the Lego website and found that you can order individual bricks HERE. I am not sure exactly which bricks are available or how much the little hearts would cost doing it this way, but it looks like a good option. There are 157 pages of individual bricks to explore and you can narrow that number by entering information such as category and color.

After making some of the hearts, I looked around the internet and ended up combining a few of the ideas I found and adding a little touch of my own. I searched for free Lego clip art and came up with some fun little minifigure faces and a stack of bricks. Being a self confessed hoarder of fonts, I searched for a Lego font and came up with Legothick from Urbanfonts.

I used my trusty Photoshop Elements to come up with my design for the tags and some cellophane bags I use for my custom Project Life cards. And we're all ready for Valentine's Day!

I had planned on using the same little minifigure head on all four of my tags but then I came across the cute little girl with the eyelashes & red lips and couldn't pass it up. So the little girls will get a girl and the boys will get the little smiling face. Jake loved the one with the sunglasses, so I put that one next to his name on all the tags. Download the FREE printable tags for your Lego Valentines HERE!

Don't worry, if you're in a hurry or can't find the bricks to create the hearts for your Valentines. This idea works just as well with a little bag filled with miscellaneous bricks. Buy a bin at Target or just grab some from your kids' stash...chances are they won't miss a few (maybe...)!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check out this post and tons of other great Valentine ideas over on InspirationDIY.com:

And, of course, don't forget to stop by my friend Kim's link party for
all sorts of inspiration...Valentine & otherwise!

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About Me

I'm passionate about CREATING. Always have been...
I LOVE using my creativity in every part of my life.
I have a varied background...I've had a lot of jobs...receptionist, library, fast food chain, Chinese restaurant, University President's Office, The Gap, Natural Wonders, Maurice's, for a crazy lady (or 2), Escrow Officer, mortgage company in docs/funding & marketing, filled out government orders for airplane glue (yep)...and most recently & most fun, for my local LSS in design/education/marketing...and now I own my own transcription business, so I have time to play and go out on my own in the creative world! Recently my designs have been at CHA & on HSN! I've got SO many plans!
Join me, as I share my latest papercrafting projects and other creative ideas. Learn new tips & techniques you can use in your home or on your next papercrafting project.